Regulator for water-wheels



UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

JAMES FINLAY, OF COLD SPRING, NEW YORK.

REGULATOR FOR WATER-WHEELS, 66C.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 6,868, dated November 13, 1849.

To aZZ whom t may concern Be it known that I, JAMES FINLAY, of ColdSpring, in the county of Putnam and State of New York, have invented anew and useful governor or regulator suitable in its application toWhitilow and Stirratts patent water-mill (usually called the Scotchmotor and to all other mills when the aperture, sail, or part to beacted upon is carried around by the rotary motion of such mill; and I dohereby declare that the following is a clear and exact description ofthe construction and operation of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, making part of this specification.

Figure l is a plan, showing the application of this governor to Messrs.Whitilow and Stirratts atent water mill, and Fig. 2 an elevation, 1nboth of which figures the same letters and numbers point out the sameparts.

'A is the Water mill of which the jet apertures a, a, are to be acted onby the governor. Y

B, B, are cog wheels for transmitting the power of the water mill to anyrequired distance.

"R, R, are the main beams which support the water mill.

C, is a cog Wheel accurately bored and fitted to the turned part of thewater mill shaft D, on which it acts. It is not keyed, but left loose,so as to revolve freely around on its seat; either in the same directionas that in which the water millrevolves, or in the direction contrary toit; accordingly as it is acted upon. r

E, E, are cog-wheels which gear into C. They are something less than onehalf the breadth of C.

F, F, are spindles on which these cogwheels are keyed. These spindlesare secured in bearings G, G, to the top and bottom plates of the watermill; having screws form the inner sides of the jet apertures a, an) bythe links m, m. n, n, are standards having a center pin, on which thebell cranks 0, h, o, 7L, turns.

, f It will now be obvious that if the cog wheel c, be made to revolvein either direction, the cog wheels E, E, and spindles F, F will alsorevolve; and by the action of the screws, the nuts Z, z', will eitherascend, or descend in accordance with the direction of the motion givento C; and will act on the movable plates Z, Z, through the bell crankso, la, 0, h, and links m, m, so as either to push those plates outwardand diminish the width of the apertures, or draw them inward andincrease that width.

P, is a shaft secured in bearing Q, Q, to the fixed beam R, and floor t.

S is a cog-wheel of the same breadth as E, E, which also gears into C,above E, E, so as to allow these cog-wheels, when carried around by therevolution of the water mill to pass clear under it. This cog-wheel iskeyed von the lower end of the shaft P, and consequentlyV revolves withit. On the upper end of this shaft is fixed a conical drum T with thesmaller end downward which is connected by means of a belt U, with asimilar conical drum T, havin@r the smaller end upward. The last conicalrum is fixed on the spindle V, of an ordinary governor W, (such as areusually applied to steam engines). The belt U passes through an eyeformed in the end of the bent lever az, shown at y. The other end ofthis lever embraces a groove in the sliding collar .2, by means of afork l, formed on the end of it in the usual manner. Q is ,a standardhaving a pin 3 through the top, on which turns as a fulcrum. A pulley 4,fixed on the governor spindle is by means .of a belt Y connected withanother pulley 5 shown here as fixed on the water mill shaft; but whichmay be fixed on any shaft driven by the water mill.

Such is the general arrangement here shown which will serve to explainthe principle of the invention. But it will be obvious that thisconstruction may be varied to suit existing circumstances. For instance,the conical drums T, T", may be mounted on separate horizontal shafts,in place of the vertical shafts as drawn. One of which shall beconnected by the means of a pair of bevel wheels with the shaft P, andthe other shall communicate with any convenient shaft driven by thewater mill. Inv

this case the governor W, must also be driven separately, either fromthe water mill shaft, or from any shaft connected therewith.

I will now proceed to explain the operations of this governor. Theproper speed of the water mill is here supposed to be 37 revolutions perminute, and the governorV W, being calculated to revolve at the samespeed; it follows, that the pulleys l and 5, must necessarily be of thesame diameter.

The water mill being put in operation, and making 37 revolutions perminute, will transmit the same number of revolutions, in the samedirection to the governor spindle V. And the balls 8, 8, having by theircentrifugal action receded from the ce'nter of motion to al distancecorresponding to this number of revolutions will necessarily, have drawnup the sliding collar Z, and with it the forked end of the bent lever asto the exact position at which it will stand, when the water mill isrevolving at 37 revolutions per minute, (its proper speed.) But theother end of the bent lever having an eye through which the belt passes,will, by the same action', have shifted the belt down upon the conicaldrum. Let us now suppose that at this position the belt is held so as topass over each of the conical drums, at the middle of the length. Inthis case (the cones being similar,) the same number or 37 revolutionsper minute will be transmitted to the shaft P, and cog-wheel S. But thecogwheel S being in gear with the loose cogwheel C, and being of thesame diameter, will necessarily transmit to it, the same number ofrevolutions; and this being also the speed of the water mill thecog-wheel C, will consequently preserve the same relative position, asregards the water mill and shaft, that is, it will not move in eitherdirection round the shaft; but it will stand in the same relation to it,as though it were keyed fast; and can therefore have no action on thecog-wheels E, E, and through them, on the movable plates Z, Z.

Let us now suppose that a part of the resistance has been thrown off thewater mill. The speed of the water mill will begin to increase; but themoment that this takes place, the balls 8, 8, will, by the increasedcentrifugal action consequent thereon, recede farther from the center ofmotion, and raise the sliding collar e; which acting on the bent leverm, will tend to 'push the belt o, farther down, on a larger part of theconical drum T, and on a smaller part of the conical drum T. Theconsequence will be, a greater number of revolutions transmitted to theshaft P, and cog-wheels S, 'and C, but this last being free to move inits seat, on the water mill shaft, will have a relative motion asregards the water mill, in the same direction, equal to the differencein the number of their absolute revolutions in a given time.` Forinstance should the difference be one revolution per minute, thecog-wheels E, E, and screw spindles F, F, will each `4arms of the bellcranks 0, and 71 be o make one revolution per'minute, which actingthrough the nuts z', i, bell cranks o, h, and links m, m, a motionoutward will be transmitted to the movable plates Z, Z, tending todiminish the width of the jet orifices .to vthe extent of the distancebetween two contiguous threads of -the` screw on the spindles for everysuch revolution; providing the the same length or to 'such yproportionof that distance, as corresponds to the proportional length of those'arms should they differ in length.

Let us now supposev that the resistance taken off the water mill' isagain thrown on it. It is obvious that an action precisely similar towhat has beeny described will take place, but in a contrary direction.The cogin a direction contrary to that of the waterV mill, and theaction will be transmitted to the movable plates, so as to drawthem-inward, and thus increase thewidth of thejet orifices.

It will thus be seenv from the foregoingv specification that thedistinguishing characteristic of my invention is a peculiar-mode ofemploying well knownj mechanical devices for the transmitting of such amotion to a loose cog wheel on the shaft of the water mill, or suchother rst mover, whose motion it is intended to regulate, as lwill causeit to make the same number .of' revolutions in a given time, as suchwatermill, or first mover is required to make, when working at itsproper speed. Such motion being derived, either from the main shaft ofsaid water mill, or first mover, or from any shaft connected therewith,but vmodiiied and transmitted under the influence of an ordinarygovernor (such as is usually applied to steam engines) so as to causethe number of revolutions of said cog-Wheel, in a .given time to differfrom the number of revolutions made by such water mill or first mover inthe same. time, whenever the speed of saidv water mill or first mover,'shall var from its proper speed or that speed at w ich it 1s lrequiredto move.

I donot claim the conical drums, endless The employment vof these, oranalogous l arrangements in connection with the loose cog wheel C,herein described, as the ymeans of causing the revolutions of said cogwheel to exceed or fall short of the revolutions of E of the screw K,bell crank o, h, and movable Aplate (which parts I falso claim incombina-- tion with those above mentioned) being either to enlarge orcontract the jet apertures, and thereby to increase or diminish thespeed of such Water mill, or first mover, in accordance with thenecessities of the case; and this I claim under an arrangementsubstantially the same With that herein fully set forth-not intendinghowever to limit myself t0 the particular form and construction of theindividual parts, but to vary these as I may find expedient While Iattain 10 the same end by analogous means.

y JAMEs FINLAY. Witnesses: l WM. J. DoNoHoo,

THos. P. JONES.

